Photos: Bayou Bucket among college football’s wacky rivalry trophies

Without a doubt, there are more unusual, better-looking rivalry trophies out there.

But there is something about the Bayou Bucket, the trophy awarded to the winner of the University of Houston-Rice football game since 1974.

“That’s an ugly, old, beat-up trophy, but it is significant,” Rice head coach David Bailiff said. “You like having it in your locker room.”

Bailiff said he didn’t fully realize the importance of the rivalry until his second season in 2010 when the Owls beat rival Houston to reclaim the Bucket.

After the game, Bailiff said players “stayed in the locker room for hours taking pictures.” In the following weeks, the Bucket made a tour around campus.

“We paraded it around campus,” Bailiff said.

Across town, UH head coach Tony Levine spent Monday’s team meeting giving a history lesson about the Bayou Bucket rivalry to the newcomers on the team.

“We went through everything there is to know about this rivalry,” Levine said. “They understand the importance of the game. They understand the pride that goes along with getting the Bucket and keeping it for the next 12 months.”

Then, of course, there is the requisite post-game celebration pose with players from the winning team drinking (or at least we hope they are just pretending; we were unable to locate any known survivors) from the rusty old Bucket.

“I think it got its start as a spittoon,” Bailiff said.

Take a tour of some of the familiar and obscure symbols of victory that rival teams battle for, and tell me if there’s others that should be on the list.